Insulating covering



June`6, 1944. R. F. MASSA v 2,350,363

INSULATINGv COVERING Filed April 1l, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l M lll/111111111 TTS X @055/97 f- /W/SSA I UWB; am@

ATTORNEY Junee, 1944. R F MASSA 2,350,363l

INSULATING COVERING Filed April 1l, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR BY v Patented June 6, 1944 UNlTEo STATES PATENT rFlcE of the character used for the comfort and protection of man, and in particular coverings made of layers of matted, or felted, fibrous materials.

Paper in the form of thin sheets is now available which is substantially pure fibre and contains a minimum of loading materials. This paper, especially that sold for personal purposes,

such as the so-called toilet tissues and facial tissues, is comparable to aloose felt and has excellent insulating qualities. It has, however, so little strength and other wearing qualities that even for its ordinary intended uses' it is not'unusual to sell it as double or triple-ply.

It has been proposed to employ this tissue type of paper in the form of superimposed sheets as the material for coverings such as blankets, comforters and the like, because of its low cost and excellent insulating properties. The proposals have had little success because of the weakness' and poor wearing qualities of the paper. cently some success has been attained by encasing the superimposed sheets in a casing of comparatively strong woven material. The casing while it provides the necessary strength and resistance to wear raises the cost to such a point that the paper article has little if any price advantage.

I have found that satisfactory insulating coverings can be made without the use of the fabric coverings.

It is an object vof this invention to provide a lnovel insulating covering, such as a blanket,

comforter, and the like, made of aplurality of superimposed sheets of thin, porous, felt-like fibrous material which can be easily and cheaply manufactured and which has suiiicient strength and wear resistance for -a .long life in the intended use.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a novel insulating covering, such as a blanket, comforter, and the like. made of a plurality of superimposed sheets of thin, porous, feltlike paper which is very flexible and strong Vand is free from paper rattle; the novel covering furthermore having a high being very light as compared to its insulating value.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel insulating covering such as a blanket, comforter, and the like, made of a plurality'of sheets of thin, porous, felt-like fibrous material provided withreenforcing strands between the superimposed sheets and attached thereto, the reenforcing strands being arranged tween which they occur iny at least two major directions and being of somewhat shorter overall length than the sheets whereby stresses applied to the insulating covering are applied substantially only to the strands and the tendency to tear or wear the sheets in service is reduced to a minimum; the reenfcrcing strands, furthermore,

and thus provide insulating air spaces, the strands because of their lesser overall length cause the sheets to form small wrinkles orwaves when no stresses are applied and thus further provide'insulating air Spaces.

insulating value and It isa still further obleol; or the invention to provide a novel insulating coveringsuch as a blanket, comforter, and the like. made of'a plurality of sheets of thin, porous, felt-like fibrous material provided with reenforcing and spacing strands between the superimposed sheets and attached thereto, the reenforcing strands being attached to the sheets by an adhesive applied to the strands before the strands are positioned between the sheets thus spacing the sheets apart by the thickness of the strands and at the same time preventing the closing of the pores of the l paper except at the lines of contact with` the strands.

The further objects and advantages of the invention will be better appreciated from the following description cf a present preferred embodiment of the invention and a present pre-'- ferred mode oi manufacturing it, taken Vwith the accompanying ndrawings. in which Fig. 1 is an isometric view with -parts broken awayshowing the construction of the novel covering of my invention,

Fig. 2 is 4an enlarged fragmentary sectional #y view taken on line 1 2 of Fig. 1,

Figs. 3. 4 and 5 are diagrammatic views illus# trating the steps employed in manufacturing the novel insulating covering.

The novel insulating covering of the invention wi1l, for the purposes ofthe disclosure, be described as the blanket or comforter Il 1 and 2. It is to be understood, however tlat the novel article is not limited to such form and use and if desired may be produced in any size and shape .and may be used for industrial as well as domestic purposes.

Blanket I 0 lis made up of a plurality of layers or sheets Il of thin, porous, felt-'like fibrous material. A cheap and convenient material at present preferred for sheets il is the paper now available and known as facial tissue, some of the high grade toilet tissues are also suitable.

space the sheets be- 'the sheets II in contact 'I'he tissue papers preferred are those that are very thin land are made substantially entirely out of paper, or cellulose, fibre with a minimum of loading or sizing material. The preferred tissues are of loose and porous structure. Often these are creped, or have an undulating crosssection. The preferred tissues resemble a loose felt and are of excellent insulating quality.

The number of sheets Il employed may vary widely and in any case will depend on the results desired. A blanket IU with twelve sheets II has been shown. Such `a blanket is comparable in insulating value' made of the usual materials. As just stated a larger or smaller number of sheetsv II may be used as the service conditions warrant. Sheets II are reenforced by reenforcing material that is interposed between and united to them. The reenforcing material may be in the form of strands I2 or in the form of loose netting, or webbing, I3, or some of the reenforcing material layers may be in the form of strands I2 and others in the form of netting, or webbing, I3. In any case, the reenforcing material layers may be interposed between pairs of sheets -II or two or more sheets Il may separate the reenfbrcing layers.

attached to sheets II. Where the tape is omitted the sealed edge of the blanket Il may have coloring material applied thereto to produce a colored border.

to the better grade blankets The reenforcing material is united to sheets y II by an adhesive. Various mucilages, glues and cements are suitable for the purpose. At pres,- ent, rubber latex is preferred as this material when dry is substantially odorless and readily iiexible. Enough of the adhesive is used to at least unite each reenforcing layer I2 or I3 with with it.` The adhesive is applied to the reenforcing material before the reenforcing material is positioned between the sheets so that the pores of the sheets are not closed by the adhesive-except along the line'of union. The adhesive should preferably contain at least one ingredient that wets the sheets so that when these dry they will assume, at least adjacent to the line of union, a wavy surface. Thus, further insulating air spaces are provided between the sheets. It is, of course, evident that the reenforcing material by spacing the sheets also provides insulating air spaces.

Reenforcing layers I2 and I3.. aresomewhat less in overall length than the corresponding overall dimensions of the sheets II. By reason of this whenever any pull is exerted on blanket IIJ the strain is taken up ers I2 and I3 and sheets II are not stressed. This difference in overall length between the reenforcing layers and sheets II causes further waves or undulations in sheets II 'when no insulating air spaces.

The reenforcing layersl extend to the very edges of the blanket I0. The edges of the blanket I0 are closed by cementing the'edges of sheets II together with adhesive, preferably-theadhesive is applied along a band spaced from the edges of sheets I I, as the band between lines a'a and b-b of Fig. 2. The area to which adhesive is applied is preferably covered by a'tape I4, wi ich may be strong paper or woven material. Again mbber latex is preferred as the adhesive. When the edges of `sheets 'II are cemented together and tape Il is applied in one operation,

`enough adhesive is preferably employed to unite tape Il to allof sheets II. Tape I4 is preferably of such a width that its inner edge portion extends inwardly of the cemented band and is not by the reenforcing lay-'- Reenforcing layers I2 are made up of a plurality of closely spaced, substantially parallel strands ofyarn, thread, or other such material. The strands of one, or more, oi' layers I2 are run in one direction while those in another layer, or layers, are run at an angle to said one direction. It is highly desirable that the spacing of the strands, at least in the outer layers, be close enough so that when the blanket is grasped the fingers must overlay reeniorcing strands. A spacing of to ta" between strands has been found satisfactory although smaller or greater spacings may be used. The strands may be farther apart in the inner layers than in the outer layersfand in some cases inner layers may be entirely omitted. When inner layers of the reenforcing material are eliminated it is generally preferred to unite the unreenforced sheets II together as by spots or lines 2l of adhesive. When layers I3 are employed the sameA spacing of the strands of the netting or webbing must be observed. Also with this material the-mesh must he large enough toprevent the adhesive from bridging over the meshes.

In making blanket I@ with reenforcing layers I2, I mount two rolls I5 as shown in Fig. 3. On each oi these rolls is tissue sheet II in extended length as it comes from the mill. This tissue may be either lsingle or multi-ply. The tissue may be, say, seven feet wide. The tissue from rolls I5 is led to roll I6 and wound thereon.

Simultaneously are also wound on roll I6 and between the tissues a plurality of substantially parallel strands I2, spaced as'hereinabove set forth. Strands I2 prior to reaching roll IB pass over roll I1 from spools Il. Roll I1 dips into a bath I9 of cementing material such as'a rubber latex so that strands\|2 are impregnated to the desired degree with the cementing material in passing over roll I1. The viscosity of the cement and the size and quality of the strand material vcan be adjusted to give the/desired penetration.

' stresses are applied. This further increases the '5 in a pile 2| preparatory to the next Step- The next step in the manufacture is shown in Fig. 4 in which the sections 2l are taken from the pile 2i by hand, or by automatic devices, not shown, and laid one after the other close together, or slightly overlapping each other, onto strands I2 as they pass from contact with adhesive applying roll Il to the roll 22 onto which tissue from roll 231 and the sections 20 are also rolled. The sections 20 are rotated in laying them on the strands I2 so that the strands already present in these sections lie at right angles with the strands I2 upon which the sections are being placed. The strands I2, having been impregnated with adhesive, win adhere to tnetissue from the roll '23 and to sections 20. If the tissue on rolls I5 and 23 is two-ply, we now have six layers- Two rolls 22 having been made, a twelve layer blanket may now be formed by placing the rolls 22 as shown in Fig. 5 and winding their contents onto roll 2|. The material from the two rolls 22 is joined together by running a set o! strands I2 between the material from the two rolls just as was done in .the step illustrated in Fig. 3. An a1- ternative way of connecting the material from rolls 22 is by applying an adhesive to the surfaces that are to be brought together, applying it in lines or in spots shown at 25 in Fig. 1. This may be done automatically or by hand.

Blankets of greater thickness may be mad either by uniting the materialy from three rolls 22 in one or the other of the ways just described or by adding singleror multiple sheets Il between two or more layers of material from rolls like rolls 22 and securing them in place by oneof the methods already described.

When the rolling is completed the roll is removed and the material cut `into seven foot lengths to form a blanket I 0 seven feet by seven and binding tape i4 applied to complete them.

The edges may be sealed automatically or by hand. Latex, or other adhesive, thinned to a point where it will penetrate the sheets li is aplplied in a band at or adjacent the edges of blanket It and allowed todry under suiiicient pressure to insure that sheets il lie close together. tape I4, if used, may be applied at the same time or later. Tape I4 iso! sumcient width so feet. l 'I'hese blankets then have the edges sealed y that there shallbe no bond between the tape and Y unreenforced paper.

If tape I4 is not.used the edges of blanket il may be colored to provide a colored border.

When reenforcing material Il is employed ablanket may be formed in one operation as the rotation to obtain the angular spacing of the reenforcing strands is not necessary.

I claim:

1. A heat insulator of the kind described and having iine interstices to permit the passage of air therethrough. which heat insulator comprises in combination a plurality of superimposed layers, each layer consisting of at least one sheet of .unwovem porous, felt-like fibrous material of tissue-like thinness, and spaced narrow, exible stranded reinforcement extending in one direction, positioned between certain of said layers and attached thereto and spacing the layers, and additional, spaced, narrow stranded reinforcement extending in a direction at an angle to the direction of said first mentioned stranded reinzrcement and positioned 'between other of said yers.

2. A heat insulator of the kind described having fine interstices for the e of air therethrough, which heat insulator comprises in combination a plurality ot superimposed layers, each layer consisting of at least one sheet of vunwoven, porous, felt-like, fibrous material of tissue-like thinness having a normally retracted length and an extended length, the thickness in the retracted length being greater than in the extended length, and spaced, narrow, ilexible stranded reinforcement extending in one direction posiditional flexible, spaced narrow, stranded reinforcement extending in a direction at an angle to the direction of said iirst mentioned stranded reinforcement.

3. A heat insulator of the kind described having iine interstices for the passage of air thereadditional, spaced, narrow, iiexible, stranded reinforcement extending in a direction at an angle to the direction of said iirst mentioned stranded reinforcement positionedy between certain other layers. v y

4. A heat insulator of the kind described having. line interstices for the passage of air therethrough,.which heat insulator comprises in oombination a plurality of superimposed layers, each layer consisting of at least one sheet of unwoven. porous, felt-like, ibrous material of tissue-like thinness having a normally retracted length and an extended length and spaced, narrow, flexible, stranded reinforcement of a length not greater than the normal retracted length of the sheets positioned between certain of said layers and attached thereto. 5. A heat insulator of the kind described having ne interstices for the passage of air therethrough, winch heat insulator comprises in combination a plurality of superimposed layers, each layer consisting of at least one sheet of unwoven, porous. felt-like, brous material of tissue-like thinness having a normally retracted length and an extended length with greater thickness in the retracted than in the extended length, and spaced, narrow, ilexible, stranded reinforcement of a length not greater than the normal retracted length ot the sheets extending in one direction positioned between certain of said layers. attached thereto and spacing the layers, and additional, like stranded reinforcement extendingjn a direction at an angle to the direction of said ,nrst mentioned stranded reinforcement and positioned between certain other of said layers.

6. A heat insulator ofthe kind described having iine interstices for the e oi' air therethrough, which heat insulator comprises in coinbination a plurality of superimposed layers, each layer consisting of at least one sheet o! unwoven, porous feit-like, fibrous, creped material of tissue-like thinness, and spaced, narrow, ilexible, stranded hreenitorcement extending in one direction and positioned between certain of said 18yers, attached thereto and spacing the layers, and additional, spaced. riarrow, ilexible., stranded reenforcement extending in a direction at an angle to the direction of said rst mentioned stranded reenforcement positioned between certain other layers, the strands of said stranded reenforcement and the strands of said additional stranded tioliedlletweencertain'ofsaldlayex'sandat-` tlchdtlimtolndlmtholayermlnd Idheat insulator is grasped by the hand the lingers always overlay stranded reenforcement.

vl'tQBlliR'l. F. MASSA. 

